Parking your vehicle can be expensive, limited, confusing and in many cases, unsafe. Many parking spaces go unused simply because people are not aware of them, or are not willing to look for them, due to the time it takes to do so. Getting to and from these parking lots or garages often puts people in avoidable danger. Current solutions include mobile applications (“apps”) for parking that usually work only for pay-by-space parking spaces. These mobile apps do not provide coverage for free parking facilities, or permit parking facilities, typically found in universities or any other organization that offers parking by different permits or authorization levels. These apps also do not provide information on multiple parking locations of the same type or authorization level (e.g., “gold” lots, “silver” lots, free economy lots, etc.) that might be geographically distributed across a wide area within the same campus. Also, there are no safety features built into any of these mobile parking apps that could save a person's life in case of emergencies or physical assault as they walk to and from their vehicle.